Birthday Celebration in Charmed Koh Yo

I had made a reservation for the table months in advance. Daddy had found this really nice looking restaurant called Charmed. It is on Koh Yo, an island in the lake near to Songkhla. We worried about getting aGrab back to the hotel since the island is rather secluded. The hotel tried to check for transport, but the quoted price was so much higher than what we checked on Grab (pre-ordered van). Unfortunately, it was impossible to get a van. So we cancelled that and pre-ordered 2 cars for pick up from Charmed at 9pm.

We left the hotel at around 4pm. The drive was quite a while. Here's the bridge joining the mainland to the island. 

The driver had to turn into a very narrow road. Like kampung road, but it was in very good condition. And then, we're at the restaurant. We could walk out to enjoy the view:

As it was still rather early, we decided to walk to a nearby weaving factory. Unfortunately, it was closed. So we headed back to the restaurant. 

We were treated to a welcome drink after we were seated. 

After ordering the appetizers and drinks, we got the waiter to help take photos:

Took our own photos too:

It took quite a while before all our drinks/cocktails were served. The waitress had explained that they were short on staff that evening.

We decided to quickly order the mains in case it took too long to be served.

Then our mains were served:

Fried mince pork with fish

Stewed pork

Shrimp patties

And then our mains arrived:

Stir fried mince pork with basil

Steamed sea bass with lemon sauce

Grilled prawns

*Missing another Prawn in Paneang sauce*

Cabbage with scrambled egg

Stir fried pork belly and prawns with stink beans (for daddy)

Crab meat with curry

We finished dinner quite early.. it was only around 7.30pm. So Mei-mei and I headed out to walk around and for her to play on the swing and this "rocking giraffe".

The restaurant looks so pretty in the twilight:

Then we moved to the bar to have some drinks. 

When we finally got to contact our drivers at 8.15pm, we sent them a note that we were ready to leave anytime they can arrive. Unfortunately, they were driving over from Hatyai. We finally left the restaurant just before 9pm.

Headed back and KO-ed. What a long day! But I had an amazing day of celebrations.

Day 1: Hello, Hatyai!

We had an early start today. The van arrived at 6.30am sharp as daddy had requested. We quickly loaded the van and off we go on our short holiday to Thailand. This would be Mei-mei's first time going into Thailand. You both took naps (although you denied it).

Then we took a quick stop at Changlun. Here we bought some chocolates, and went to another duty free shop to pick up wine and whiskey.

Someone didn't have enough sleep. Look at the panda eyes!

A short ride later, we arrived at the Malaysian border. We had to take all our bags down to have them scanned and to clear immigration. Hopped back onto the van where we picked up the duty free alcohol we had purchased and then headed to the Thai border. Here, we had our passports stamped by the Thai authorities. The immigration officer even wished me "Selamat Hari Jadi". Hehe.. 

Welcome to Thailand! Time to turn our clocks back by an hour.

We arrived at Hatyai town and picked up the "tour guide". As this van was only allowed to stop at Hatyai and we wanted him to drop us at Songkhla, we needed a local tour guide in the car. Before leaving Hatyai, daddy and Ah Kong stopped at the money changer. 

And off we go to Songkhla. It's so sunny.

And here we are at our hotel: Club Tree Hotel.

As the rooms were not yet ready, we could not check in (it was around 11am only). And we were all feeling hungry, so we called 2 Grab and headed to Joe Delicious. Happiness for Mei-mei as there are cats here for you to play with.

We ordered the food and soon it arrived:

Burnt coconut

Medium sized lump crab fried rice

Pad See Ew

Stir fried veggies

Fried pork

Deep fried squid

We were even treated to the cotton fruit:

Here's the menu at the entrance:

Then we decided to take a walk to the old town. Looks like we took the wrong road. It's so narrow and difficult to walk along this street. 

In the end the traffic and heat got the best of us. We decided to run into a cafe to have drinks and wait for check in time.

It's a pretty cafe. Nicely decorated. There's even a well right inside it!

This little girl had fun having her photos taken:

Then we called for another 2 Grabs to take us back to the hotel:

Finally.. here's our room!

Time to rest a little before getting ready for dinner.

Your Stinky Socks

Daddy spotted your school sock on the floor next to the dining table.

Daddy: Evelyn! Are your socks going to walk to the back on it's own?

Evelyn: Give it some time, it will go to the back. 

I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Mr Sarcastic has met his match!

Day out with Carolina

Today was a busy day for daddy. First thing in the morning, he headed out to pump tyre pressure. When he got back, we headed out to drop Mei-mei at piano classes. Then to Gurney Plaza to drop Ko-ko as he had to work for a couple of hours. Then we headed home to pick up Mei-mei's jacket (forgetful left it at home!!), then picked her up from piano and headed back to Gurney Plaza.

When asked if she's met up with Carolina, I got this photo as a response:

Daddy and I went to have his watch serviced, then headed to the foodcourt to get something to eat.. Ko-ko was supposed to be done at around 1.30pm. But he texted before 1 to say that he's done. Oops.. we just ate. Anyhow, we ended up in ParaThai for some light Thai food. Then we headed back with the intention to rest. The traffic at Greenlane was super jam, so we took a detour to buy biscuits and were wondering whether to take the Paya Terubong route home. Ended up heading back to Greenlane when I received a text from Mei-mei saying the man next to her raised the arm rest (in the cinema watching Toy Story 5) and leaned towards her.

Daddy and Ko-ko got all agitated and wanted to turn back to Gurney. But after asking a bit, you told me that you'd shifted to another seat. Headed back to drop Ko-ko and wanted to go back after that, but you then said that the man had left. I'm glad that you were smart to move seats and also let us know that someone was making you uncomfortable. 

Anyhow, daddy and I then made our way back to Gurney Plaza again.. You said you were back at Project Rock and showed me this photo:

Yes, Carolina certainly does not like taking photos.. no clear ones of her 😅

Daddy and I planned to finish up the drinks we had in our Ippudo set, but before that, we went to have a look at the Tuak which is being sold at a booth at the el fresco area. Here, we were treated to the varietiest of tuak which was brewed locally. 

We ended up buying 4 bottles.. 

Then we headed to Ippudo for our drinks and to wait for the 2 girls. Hopped into the car and headed to Gurney 8 to drop off Carolina before heading home to pick up Ko-ko, Ah Kong and Ah Ma for dinner in QBay. What a long day. Daddy's so tired from driving non-stop.

Japanese Lunch and Dinner

We headed to Gurney Paragon after picking Mei-mei from Karate. The plan was to buy some books at BooksXcess. Then maybe some groceries then lunch. We thought of trying Kakuriyo Ramen which only opens at 11.30am.

We arrived a little too early, and since daddy and Mei-mei were already hungry, they bought some buns from the bakery while waiting for the restaurant to open. Even before 11.30, there were already 2-3 families waiting for the doors to open, which they promptly opened at 11.30am sharp, like a typical Japanese.

We each had one ramen, gyoza and potato salad:

As we were eating, Ah Ma called daddy to say that she wanted to cook Japanese night for dinner. Apparently, daddy and Ko-ko were just discussing this plan when they were in Jaya Grocer, not tonight but maybe next week. Looks like the plan is being pulled forward. 

After dropping Mei-mei off at ballet, we headed to the (quite) newly opened Monster Penang. It's the same as Monster Beer which we had visited on several occassions when we went to KL. Unfortunately, the selection here is rather limited. Hopefully they will have better and more selections in future. 

Picked up Mei-mei, headed to Village Grocer to pick up a couple of things and it's time for Chef Daddy to whip out his little grill to cook the other dishes for tonight's dinner:

Grilled Saba:

Wagyu Skewers

And here's our dinner spread:

And while we ate, daddy put the Kani Miso on the grill to slowly heat up/cook:

Burppp.. dinner was superb.